Chengde Lolo A (848) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Chengde Lolo A (China)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Chengde Lolo A is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Chengde Lolo A

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Chengde Lolo A can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Chengde Lolo A, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Chengde Lolo A operates in.

According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Chengde Lolo A can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Chengde Lolo A
2. Improving business portfolio management of Chengde Lolo A
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in China
4. Making a Beverages (Nonalcoholic) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Chengde Lolo A

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Strengths of Chengde Lolo A | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Chengde Lolo A are -

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Chengde Lolo A comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Chengde Lolo A has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Chengde Lolo A have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Strong track record of project management in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry

– Chengde Lolo A is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Analytics focus

– Chengde Lolo A is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. The technology infrastructure of China is also helping it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.

Training and development

– Chengde Lolo A has one of the best training and development program in Consumer/Non-Cyclical industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Chengde Lolo A in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Chengde Lolo A has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Chengde Lolo A has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Chengde Lolo A has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.

Organizational Resilience of Chengde Lolo A

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Chengde Lolo A does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Chengde Lolo A in the Consumer/Non-Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Chengde Lolo A has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Chengde Lolo A to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Innovation driven organization

– Chengde Lolo A is one of the most innovative firm in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) sector.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry

– Chengde Lolo A has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Chengde Lolo A to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Chengde Lolo A to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

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Weaknesses of Chengde Lolo A | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Chengde Lolo A are -

Need for greater diversity

– Chengde Lolo A has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at Chengde Lolo A, in the dynamic environment of Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Chengde Lolo A has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that Chengde Lolo A needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Chengde Lolo A can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Chengde Lolo A is planning to shift buying processes online.

Lack of clear differentiation of Chengde Lolo A products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Chengde Lolo A needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

High dependence on Chengde Lolo A ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Chengde Lolo A still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Chengde Lolo A has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Chengde Lolo A is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Chengde Lolo A to provide better information regarding Beverages (Nonalcoholic) products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Skills based hiring in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Chengde Lolo A has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Chengde Lolo A has high operating costs in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Chengde Lolo A lucrative customers.

High bargaining power of channel partners in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in China, Chengde Lolo A is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Chengde Lolo A has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Chengde Lolo A has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry using digital technology.

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Chengde Lolo A Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Chengde Lolo A are -

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Chengde Lolo A can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Chengde Lolo A operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) sector.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Chengde Lolo A can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Chengde Lolo A can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help Chengde Lolo A to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Buying journey improvements

– Chengde Lolo A can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. It can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Chengde Lolo A can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Chengde Lolo A is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Chengde Lolo A can utilize new technology in the field of Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Chengde Lolo A to increase its market reach. Chengde Lolo A will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Chengde Lolo A has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Chengde Lolo A to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Chengde Lolo A to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Chengde Lolo A has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. This can help Chengde Lolo A to build a more holistic ecosystem for Chengde Lolo A products in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Chengde Lolo A can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Chengde Lolo A can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.

Identify volunteer opportunities

– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Chengde Lolo A can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Chengde Lolo A in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Chengde Lolo A to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.

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Threats Chengde Lolo A External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Chengde Lolo A are -

Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc

– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Chengde Lolo A is facing in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Chengde Lolo A can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Chengde Lolo A in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. The Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Chengde Lolo A can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry.

Increasing wage structure of Chengde Lolo A

– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Chengde Lolo A.

High level of anxiety and lack of motivation

– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Chengde Lolo A needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Instability in the European markets

– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Chengde Lolo A will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.

Capital market disruption

– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Chengde Lolo A.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry are lowering. It can presents Chengde Lolo A with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) sector.

Environmental challenges

– Chengde Lolo A needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Chengde Lolo A can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry.

New competition

– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Chengde Lolo A in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Backlash against dominant players

– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Chengde Lolo A business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Chengde Lolo A Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Chengde Lolo A needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants. We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –

First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of Chengde Lolo A is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.

Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of Chengde Lolo A is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.

Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Chengde Lolo A to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Chengde Lolo A needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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